The Know Your Customer Rule: Or, You have to hear it in their voice or you PAY

For anyone that works in financial services, one of the very first things you learn, is the "Know Your Customer Rule." Yes, in transactions over $10,000, it is important for money laundering stuff, but it is also critical even in small transactions, to absolutely know who you are dealing with. To know they are honest and will follow through on their promises.

In a large metro area, it is with identification. In a small town such as Evansville, we take knowing the customer for granted. For a financial services marketer who sells in four states, the rule is just as tough. No strangers. You have to know that the customer has the money to follow through on the transaction.

One day during the first week I was training to be a stockbroker, I saw on the "ticket" which was used for all transactions the words, " ERRORS COST YOU MONEY". Just a little concerned, being just relocated with a couple of small kids, I asked the boss about what this meant. He said that if I as a broker made an error at the "wire" on a transaction, and had to sell out a position, I would pay the error out of my net wages. Furthermore, as a broker, if a customer that promised to buy something on the telephone reneged on a transaction, I would pay the loss if the position had to be sold and a loss resulted.

"You have to hear the MONEY and the HONESTY in their voice," he said. " OR, YOU PAY BIG TIME "...... Trust me, I was upset.

Over the next six months, I began to listen more closely on the phone than every before. I found that indeed one could hear honesty. One could indeed hear honesty on the telephone in the breathing and inflection of the voice. I am pleased to say that I never lost a dime on any out of state sales. And more importantly, even though the financial services business is just a memory, I can still hear the money in their voices and the honesty too. It was an incredible gift. I value it each day.